FED UP with leash aggression

I would toss the prong.
What has helped me with my dogs when they go into overdrive, bodyblocking, or instantly turning the dog away from the aggression point, and going in the other direction with the dog close to you, this shows that you are in control, and do not accept his behavior.

ORIGINAL: RidgebackGermansShep

Kate, i tried the easy walk harness and wasn't all too impressed. However, i only took him on like 2 walks with it, and then returned it. Maybe i'll give it another try.

I've only seen him aggressive off leash a few times. One time, with the shepherd and a few other times with dogs that have mounted him. He's not hardcore aggressive-just a growl and a flash of the teeth. I do not take him to the dog park anymore...just let him play with my friend's westie and gsp mix. Thank GOODNESS he's not human aggressive...that would be horrible. Actually, i think someone would be lucky to break in, haha!

Nikki_burr, thanks for letting me know about your experience, i will try some of the things you talked about!

FYI, in this case, the reason you were not satisfied with the Easy Walk is that your dog can still move his head to face the offending stimulus (other dog), even if he can't pull you toward it.  So, any barking or lunging or attempts at dragging will continue.  The equipment of choice for dogs that do this is the Gentle Leader, because it does not produce pain (every time I see another dog my neck hurts - I hate other dogs, or every time I see a dog my neck hurts - there really IS something to be afraid of), and it enables you to "get outta Dodge" faster, which is really what Nikki was doing, albeit with a piece of equipment that I would not use in this circumstance.
The key to retraining is to recognize that the stimulus is present before the dog does, make sure you get the dog away to a comfortable distance, and then focus & feed. Get "Feisty Fido" or one of the other good books on the subject and follow the protocol.   Or, find a training center that offers a "Feisty Fido" or "Growlies" class.

You all are awesome! Anne, i already have a halti, do you think that a GL is better?

I don't know about the GL, but with the Halti my dogs could get out of it fairly easily once they learned it was possible.  Nikki especially was a master at it, and no matter how tight I put it on (within reasonable limits of course) she could just slip the nose part off with one swipe of her paw.  And of course she tended to do that most frequently when she wanted most to get after something...like a dog across the street. [&:]   If you use that, I'd make doubly sure he can't weasel his way out of it.

Not to derail, but....  Kaiser is a gorgeous animal!  My God he's handsome!  []

/derail

Bodychecking my big boy has been the most productive way to snap his attention out of that tense, pre-aggression stage.  Knee to shoulder, pivot leg to push him to the side while stepping out in front of him.  I try to keep my leg crossed past his chest/under his neck at the very least.  It is SO HARD to pull him off cats and other 'giant' sized dogs on walks, so literally pushing my way into his world the moment I notice his attention fix is the best leg-up to controlling the situation I get.  I shove him to the side and hustle him past whatever it is, talking to him in a sharp (but not angry, panicked, or you're-in-trouble) tone the whole time.

But God help me when a cat, rabbit, or small dog darts across the road in front of us....  [:@]

I use a regular nylon collar, tightened up, of course, so they can't slip out.
 
Some of the flimsy collars or leaders wouldn't cut it with my gang if they go bonkers.....[]

I do like the GL better than the Halti for some dogs - it's really up to you, but any headcollar, in this situation, is better than just a collar or harness.

snownose, I hate to tell you this, but most dogs, even ones you would not suspect, can slip a collar, no matter how much you tighten it (and that's really uncomfortable for the dog, don't you think?).  The best solution for that particular problem, other than a headcollar tied back to the buckle collar, is a martingale.  Works on the same principle as a sighthound collar, only regular size, not wide. 

The GL is said to be more effective (gives you more control) than the Halti. I have tried both and I found that Scout hates the GL whereas she didn't really complain about the Halti.
 
The GL seems to make my dog anxious and perhaps lowers her confidence (although I introduced it slowly and with lots of positive stuff). She is more high strung and jumpy on walks compared to a regular collar.
 
In any case, what has helped Scout's leash reactivity the most is enrolling in a class (obedience, agility, whatever you want). Not so much to learn obedience, but to be in a room full of dogs on leash and work on positive attention exercises.
 
My first day, we walked in and Scout lunged and barked pretty ferociously. I thought "oh great". But I asked the trainer to put us in a chair further away from the rest of the group. Everytime Scout looked at me on her own (as opposed to looking at the other dogs) I gave her a treat. When another dog got up to do an exercise, this was more challenging because Scout was thinking - where are they going, what are they doing - so I would do some "touch hand" repetitions or "watch me" and lots of treats. Everytime Scout looked at another dog and then looked back to me on her own, lots of treats - jackpot. After a class we were able to move our chair closer to everyone else. When walking by other dogs in class, I would obviously keep a good distance, go into a little jog, and talk to her in a very excited and happy voice while holding treats in front of her nose.
 
After a while we tried some other things. My trainer brought her own dog out (a calm, non-reactive dog) and we faced each other about 15 feet apart. We then released the dogs and let them go towards each other to the end of the leashes, quick sniff, then quickly called them back (using the leash to reel them in a bit if needed). Then lots of rewards. Extra rewards if you didn't have to use the leash to pull them towards you. Repeat. The idea is that you are teaching the dog that when he sees another dog, the most rewarding thing to do is return to you. This is more advanced and you wouldn't jump right in to this exercise of course. You could also start it much further away.
 
These exercises have helped us alot. Sorry for being repetitive, but more than anything, being in class has helped.

snownose, I hate to tell you this, but most dogs, even ones you would not suspect, can slip a collar, no matter how much you tighten it (and that's really uncomfortable for the dog, don't you think?).

I tighten it to where I can easily slip 4 fingers in between the collar and neck........
They can try to get out, but it usually stops at the head....
 
The Shepherds don't give a big problem, but the Husky/Mal mix, and the Husky/Chow mix have been little devils in the past, they have bitten through regular fencing material, I am just saying some of the more flimsy collars or leaders would not stand up.......[]

I don't use flimsy collars on large dogs either, but four fingers will allow any dog to slip the collar.  I got a really nice martingale for my hound from fancynancys.com.  He walks very quietly on lead, and never pulls me, but I wanted my BF to feel confident walking him (we're in coyote country, and you never know) that he wouldn't slip it, being a hound and all.   I chose the base color and the ribbon, and added brass fittings.  He looks very handsome in it.

We're probably going to do the next level obedience class this spring, hopefully that will help. I try to take him into petstores for a little more dog to dog socialization, and he usually does very well. Most people don't like him near their dogs ( i guess they're afraid)  i guess the petstore is a neutral ground for him, and he's only aggressive at dogs that bark while in there.

I like Scout in Canda's approach. When your dog is on a leash, you want him to learn to ignore other dogs. Not socialize with them, ignore them and pay attention to you. With a full-blown leash aggressive dog you may need to keep quite far away from other dogs at first- you don't want to trigger a reactive fit-- when your dog is in a reactive fit he can't think. So you work far away from the dogs at first, and only gradually move closer and closer. If you get a reactive fit, you're too close and need to move further away.

another book that might help you is "sacerdy dog" by Ali Brown.

My dog has a pretty serious reactivity "thing", we discovered it's not actual agression though, which was good. I took him to see a behaviourist about a month and a half ago, she gave us a bunch of stuff to work on, first and foremost is getting your dog to look at you, we started in the house and we're to the point where if there aren't any other dogs around he will give me eye contact outside. Also, you might want to limit if not extinguish your dog's exposure to other dogs (aside from the ones he doesn't react to), the thinking behind this being that frustration can make this sort of problem get worse. If you wan't PM me and I'll give more boring details of what is it we're working on and what results we're getting.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

I like Scout in Canda's approach. When your dog is on a leash, you want him to learn to ignore other dogs. Not socialize with them, ignore them and pay attention to you. With a full-blown leash aggressive dog you may need to keep quite far away from other dogs at first- you don't want to trigger a reactive fit-- when your dog is in a reactive fit he can't think. So you work far away from the dogs at first, and only gradually move closer and closer. If you get a reactive fit, you're too close and need to move further away.

This is exactly what is taught in "Feisty Fido" and in "Scaredy Dog", and is the accepted protocol for dealing with leash aggression or leash reactivity. []

This is exactly what is taught in "Feisty Fido" and in "Scaredy Dog", and is the accepted protocol for dealing with leash aggression or leash reactivity.

 
Scaredy Dog is the book that Anne originally recommended to me, and I found it so helpful. Even my boyfriend, who believes I "over-think and research to death" all dog related things, flipped through the book and found some interesting points that helped win him over to my side.